


The Pied Piper of Zombies and Other Tales

by Foxeh



Series: Applied Necromancy [3]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Magic, Necromancy, Vampires, Zombies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-04
Updated: 2018-03-04
Packaged: 2019-03-11 16:55:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13528566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Foxeh/pseuds/Foxeh
Summary: One-word prompts in the Applied Necromancy universe.Doc becomes the pied piper of zombies, Alex compares himself to a betta fish, Summer has a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day and other micro-stories.





	1. The Girl and Julius Caesar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How Doc met Johann.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this as part of an exercise while reading Lisa Crohn's "Story Genius." I'd thought I'd post it here, since my, my, how writing changes when you've slogged through 25,000 words. 
> 
> Since this isn't written as a standalone, I've left out the explanatory commas. Elaine is Doc's first name, Giovanni is Johann's real name, and revenants are a type of zombie. Giovanni/Johann is a revenant.

            She’d never realized you couldn’t see the stars in the city.  The CPS workers had taken Elaine from Clarendon to Austin.  Her father, who always drove with a beer in hand, had flipped his truck and smashed in his own head.  Her mother had disappeared for good when she was three. 

            It had been so easy to think she could make it alone in Austin.  She’d spent most nights outside, after all.  Her father would get quietly drunk in front of a loud television, and she would scrape together dinner: frozen taquitos, a peanut butter sandwich, or cereal when there was milk, then escape outside.  She’d made a tent out of an old tarp and a clothesline strung between two trees, just like the picture in her _Boy’s Book of Survival_.  Often she stuck her head out, so she could see the stars and listen for coyotes.  

            But the city had no stars and if there were coyotes she couldn’t hear them over the noise of the cars.  She’d given the placement agency the slip.  They wanted her to pray to God, to go to church.  She’d told them all God had ever gotten her was a beating.  Train up a child in the way he should go.  And the way he should go was to be seen and not heard, especially when _Law & Order_ was on.  Beer and television were first and second in her father’s affections.  It was better if she was outside and out of mind.  

            All she needed to find was a quiet spot to pitch a tent.  Two trees, a clothesline or a rope, and a blanket.  She’d roamed around, but all the trees were taken.  Not by other campers, but by people in houses.  She’d never dreamed of a place where all the trees were owned, and jealously guarded, besides.  

            Near the lake there were trees aplenty, and no one around to run her off.  She settled beneath a big live oak, no rope, no tarp, but it was hot.  She’d probably rather sleep outside of one, anyway. 

            She was free.  She could be her own person, now.  No drunken man-child of a father, no crazed religious nutters.  Just her and the starless sky and the drowned-out coyotes.  She liked to think of herself as a coyote, a wild thing, answering to no one, making her own way in the world. 

            That lasted until a thunderstorm blew in from nowhere.  The live oak was minimal protection at best.  Soon enough, she was soaked through.  She wasn’t going to die, no chance of hypothermia during June in Texas, but it wasn’t pleasant.  The rain had turned the lakeshore into a sauna.  Being a coyote sucked.  

            At the time, she had no idea how he found her.  Later on, she’d understand, and wonder why she’d hadn’t noticed him earlier.  Revenants know when there’s a necromancer about, just as necromancers _should_ know when there’s a revenant about.  He still gives her hell about that.  

But he came out of the dark wearing a tarp like he was Julius Caesar, and regarded her with the same sort of quiet disdain.  He must have judged her worthy, since he squatted down next to her and asked if she wanted in.  She’d never seen anything like him before, a thin, mummified man with a single wooden eye.  His name was Giovanni, and he had a sandwich.  


	2. Money

Three necromancers in one family was unheard of, according to Doc.  But here they were, Mom and three kids in tow, all packed in with Doc and Summer in the dining room turned office.  The kids were tiny, younger than Summer had been when she’d accidentally brought a dead dog back to life.  Not long after that she’d been in the kids’ shoes, she and her own mother standing uncomfortably in Doc’s office for a necromancy test.  

But this was a different family, and a different situation.  Back then, Doc had sat them both down, asked about the incident with the dog, then asked Summer odd questions about ghosts and dead things. 

 The office itself hadn’t changed since then.  It had a school cafeteria floor, a couple of old, ratty chairs, an ugly metal desk that was once mint green but was now partially rust, and a clean white mini-fridge on top of a clean white set of drawers.  There was a faded poster of some mountains on the wall.  It looked like a cross between a dentist’s office and the dumpster behind a thrift shop.  The mom looked completely out of place.  Her hair was long and blonde, her skin was that deep tan color that looked too even to be real, and her teeth were distractingly white.  She had long skinny arms and big sunglasses with someone’s signature right on the lens.  

Doc, on the other hand, was short and pale, with thick arms and an overgrown pixie cut that made her look tired rather than spunky.  Mom and kids were impeccably dressed, while Doc sported unfashionably worn jeans and Summer tried hard to hide the smear of dried blood that she’d forgotten to wash off her arm. 

 “It’ll be five hundred per test.  I don’t have a card reader, so it’s cash or check only.  I’ll take the samples here and mail ‘em off.  The Necromancer’s Guild will have someone call you with the results.  I’ve got the forms here, if you’re ready to go.” 

  _Five hundred?_ It had been a while since Summer had been tested herself, but she thought she would’ve remembered five hundred.  Then again, Summer’s mother had opted for the “cheap test” first, where Doc had simply given a small taste of her blood to Cutter.  Maybe her mother had handled the payment for the formal test later on. 

 The mom acquiesced and pulled a checkbook out of her bag.  Doc tapped Summer on the shoulder, briefly, before slipping over to the drawers.  “Would you kindly get Mrs. Terrell a receipt, please?”

 Mrs. Terrell wrote the check with a neat cursive and handed it over.  Summer took it with the hand that wasn’t attached to the bloody arm, and carefully made out a receipt.  Name, date, total, check number.  She filled in the test numbers as Doc called them out to her, then gave the paper to Mrs. Terrell.  The woman’s hands looked soft and manicured.  Summer’s hands had fingernails all of different lengths and were covered in the miscellaneous scratches that were the trademark of necromancy and any other profession that regularly dealt with sharp things, wild creatures, or both.  Doc’s hands were calloused on the palms and scarred on the back, and Summer knew one day her own would match.  No softness or pretty manicures for them. 

 One by one, the kids were seated in one of the old chairs and a sample of blood was taken.  The youngest squalled, despite the repeated offer of a tablet or phone.  Doc ignored the fuss and went about the work quietly and with the appearance of long practice.  Summer remembered Doc being nicer and more talkative when it had been her in the chair.  She’d asked about the long drive they’d mistakenly made, the long hours from Kentucky to Texas, all because her mother hadn’t known that they could’ve just gone to Memphis instead.  In retrospect, it had worked out.  Summer’s mother would’ve wanted to meet Doc before she agreed to the apprenticeship, anyway. 

 And now Summer was here, in Texas, listening to a small child howl with indignity as Doc carefully sealed, wrapped, and packed the samples for shipping.  Mom thanked them both, and with Doc’s reassurance that they’d hear back within a week, left. 

 Once the door was closed, Doc glanced at Summer and rolled her eyes.  “All three.  All three!”  She sighed.  “Should’ve charged her more, I knew one of ‘em was going to scream.” 

 “All three of them are necromancers?” Summer wondered what that would be like.

 “Fuck no.  I doubt a single one of ‘em are.  The woman’s paranoid.”  Doc made a face and mimed a phone.  “ _I just want to be sure so I know what to expect.  My family has a long history of having_ powers.”  She groaned.  

“So she paid you fifteen hundred dollars just to be sure…?” 

“Yup.  Gucci Mom just paid me fifteen hundred dollars because she thinks her family has _powers_.  Five bucks says her family has never had any _powers_ at all, because if they did, she wouldn’t be dragging pre-pubescent kids in to be tested for necromancy.”  

“How much did you charge for my test?”  She was curious, now. 

“Fifty bucks.  The guild charges two hundred for the formal test, but I had grant money from the feds for ‘necromantic surveys’ that covered the rest.  Luckily, that all ran out a month ago, so I didn’t have to offer it to her.” 

The results came back the next Tuesday.  None of the kids were necromancers. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was an attempt at a first chapter that I may or may not rework into an actual first chapter. I like the idea of Summer experiencing and comparing being on both sides of the necromancy test, but I really feel like I need to have Doc butt heads with Gucci Mom rather than everyone playing nice. Also I feel like Summer needs to do more than just look on and compare.


	3. Fish

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Super minor novel spoiler. It can't be helped, as the event happens very early on and most everything is going to be set after that point.

Alex was sad.

It was so sudden it took her by surprise.  Summer had been slowly getting used to the strange sensation of sharing mental space with her familiar.  It was as if their minds were two dense clouds that could slide into one another and become blurry.  At times it was useful…he could read her moods or talk to her silently even at distance.  Other times she wanted nothing more than to experience the sense of aloneness again.  

She sent a mental question mark in his direction.  He didn’t respond. 

For a brief moment, she was afraid he’d been asked to leave the pet shop.  She’d wanted to just pop in and look around, even if having a pet was currently out of the question.  She’d held the door open for Alex without even thinking about it, and he’d followed, neither of them considering that zombies might not be particularly welcome even in a public place.  

But when she found him, he was simply staring at a display of betta fish in small plastic containers. 

“What’s wrong?”

He twisted his body around so he could look her in the face, then twisted back to continue regarding the fish.  “Why do they keep them like this?”

“I don’t know.  This is way you always see them, though.  I guess they’re okay like this.” 

“They’re beautiful.”

“Yeah, they sure are.” 

He was still sad, or rather, still upset.  Maybe the finer points of Alex’s emotions would come with time.  But for right now, the fish clearly bothered him.  She phrased her question carefully.

“Does it bother you that they’re in such small spaces?”

“Do you think they like it?”

“I don’t know.  One of my teachers in Kentucky had one in a big vase with a plant growing out of it.  I don’t think they swim very much.” 

What she got next was best described as a tangled ball of memories and sensations and thoughts.  She pulled back mentally and tried to sift through it.  He’d had no space of his own when he was with APD.  No room, no bed, no desk.  Now, in her room, he had his cot, and the space underneath it, and it was his.  _A small space is better than none at all._   That thought seemed to satisfy him, and immediately he wandered off toward the larger tanks with the other fish.  She shook her head and followed him, amazed at how mercurial his moods could be.


	4. Rich

There were a lot of zombies in the cemetery.  And they were all naked.

It started with a late-night phone call from APD that sent them out to one of those suburbs where everyone has just enough land to keep it from feeling too stifling, but not enough for livestock, even if the HOA allowed it.  The cemetery was on the edge of the development, and was infested with naked, animated dead people.

A man in nice trousers and a button-up shirt met them at the cemetery gate.  Summer didn’t bother catching his name (that was Doc’s job), but he said he was Someone Important In This Community.  Summer got the feeling he was probably just a nobody. 

“I want to know how someone could come in here and just raise these poor souls out of their graves like this!” He gestured at the small crowd of naked zombies. 

Doc shrugged.  “Whoever raised them, they didn’t get them from here.  They’re from a morgue or a hospital.  Or someone went on a murder spree.” 

Someone Important In This Community went paper white.  “How do you know?”

“One, you can’t raise dead people out of a grave unless you open it first.  Well, you could, if you were strong enough.  But they’d be stuck in the coffin until you dug ‘em up.  Two, they’re all naked.  People tend to bury the dead in clothes.” 

Doc wandered off to call and find out what was holding up the cops, leaving Summer alone with Someone Important.  He eyed her expectantly.

“When are these…things…going to be gone?” 

“I’m sorry, sir, but that’s not my decision to make.”  She gave him her best “just an apprentice” look. 

Doc stomped back over.  “Yup, someone’s been collecting dead people from all over the damn state.  Good thing sorting them out isn’t my problem.”

Someone Important looked sick.  “You can’t just leave them here!”

“I ain't gonna leave them here.”  Doc rolled her eyes.  “I said sorting them out isn’t my problem.  Getting them out of here _is_.  Don’t get your panties in a wad.” 

She opened the cemetery gate and strolled in, pulling out her knife as she did so.  Two quick cuts on either wrist and she rolled her head back.  Summer felt the force push out and envelop them all. 

Doc cackled as the zombies turned and made their staggering way toward her.  “I feel like the Pied Piper!” she yelled.  Her grin was wide and toothy. 

“I think you’re mad with power, Doc.” 

The older woman practically skipped toward the truck, her retinue of unclothed and undead attendants in tow.  Someone Important stared, slack-jawed, as the zombies slowly gathered around the truck.

With a flourish, Doc ripped the animating force from the zombies and they dropped to the ground as one, mere corpses once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea where Johann went off to in this story. He should be around, but he got left at home I guess. Again, Summer needs something to do. Reoccurring problem. This is why I write these little tales...to find problems.


	5. Treat

_Fuck today._

The whole incident with the pied piper zombie party last night had lasted until four in the morning.  Doc shooed Summer into the back of the truck for a nap at one.  She’d caught about an hour before a drunk idiot coming home threw a screaming fit because they were taking up the whole road.  Just as she fell asleep again, cleanup was done and she awoke to the slamming of the truck’s doors and the roar of the engine.  Alex nearly had to drag her to bed.   

Her alarm went off entirely too early. 

She stumbled through her morning routine, not caring enough to shower even though she hadn’t the night before and no doubt smelled strongly of blood, sweat, and death.  Susie, God bless her, pushed a mug of hot coffee into her hand as she walked out the door. 

The day just went downhill from there.  Homework wasn’t done and there was a pop quiz in biology she just sort of stumbled through. 

She caught a nap during lunch, but despite his best efforts, Alex couldn’t wake her up.  A lunch lady did, but the damage was done…she was late for English.  That got her a detention.  Alex fed her energy in an attempt to keep her awake, but she fell asleep during Pre-Cal and woke only when Mr. Baxter loudly slapped a ruler on her desk.   

She couldn’t leave fast enough when final bell rang, even if fast enough wasn’t exactly fast.  Bleary-eyed, she staggered out the front and down the sidewalk. 

Alex wasn’t at the gas station where they usually met for the walk home.  Worse, he wasn’t answering her mental queries.  She stood, exhausted and alone, trying to decide if she wanted to try to find him or just go home.  Instead of either, she sat down and began to cry.  _Stupid,_ she chided herself.  _What a stupid thing to cry about._  

“Sorry I’m late.”  And there he was, standing in front of her and blinking owlishly in the bright September sun.  There was a Starbucks cup in his hand.  “I found a five on the ground so I got you an iced coffee…?”

“You’re my favorite person, Alex.”  She took the coffee, took a sip, and dropped her head on Alex’s shoulder with an audible thump.  He patted her back stiffly.

“Glad I could help.”


	6. Flower

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one starts off stupid, fucks with the novel's timeline, and then shoots off into the future and gets sad. No major story spoilers, just the inevitable march of time.

“So everyone at school is doing this weird thing and I don’t understand it.” Summer plopped down at the tiny dining room table and put her chin in her hand.  “All the girls and some of the boys are wearing this big weird flower thing with ribbons on it.  Some of them are _huge_!” 

Doc didn’t even look up.  “What, like a mum?”

“That’s what they call them, yeah.”  They’d been all over the school.  Big ones, little ones, elaborate ones, simple ones, the boys wearing theirs on their arms and some of the girls had ones that covered their entire chest.  Almost all were in the school colors of black, white, and red.  Some had teddy bears or stuffed horses or cow bells of various sizes.  One had lights buried in the flower part and speakers that played music. 

Doc glanced up and stared hard at Summer.  “Do ya’ll not have mums in Kentucky?  I thought it was, you know, a southern thing.” 

“No, Doc, we don’t have them in Kentucky.  I have never seen them before.” 

“It’s not weird.  It’s a homecoming thing.  I did it, but I made my own and it was kinda shitty.”  She shrugged.  “It’s just what you do.  You or your mom or your boyfriend’s mom or your girlfriend’s mom makes you a mum and you wear it and then it sits around and collects dust until you throw it away.  You want one?” 

“No, I don’t want one, it’s _weird_.”  Summer left the table and went into her room to call her mother.  _She’d_ understand.

 

***

 

It was homecoming again and the mums were back.  Summer rolled her eyes and tried not to get too annoyed by the sheer pageantry of it all. 

Upon returning home, she found Alex hunched over in the living room zealously guarding a package from Johann’s prying fingers. 

“It’s from your mom,” he said.  

She swatted Johann away and opened the box.  No note, just a red, black, and white mum inside.  It was small and relatively plainly decorated, save for a small plush zombie attached to the flower.  It was dressed in a tiny camouflage jacket and little pants made of real denim.  Summer picked at it, not sure how she felt.

“Is that supposed to be me?” Alex asked.  She felt a brief brush of confusion in her mind.

“I think so.  Other girls have teddy bears or horses on theirs, I guess Mom thought a zombie would be more appropriate for mine.”  She fiddled with the little jacket.  “It’s kind of cute, actually.”  That earned her a happy mental burble from Alex. 

 

A few peopled at school asked about the odd addition to her mum, but she just shrugged and said “I like zombies.”

 

***

 

Years later she would carefully pry off the little stuffed zombie with his homemade clothes and set him on her desk.  She missed Alex. 


End file.
